Our group met on June 12th to review the book, to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States, by Daniel Immerwahr. Immerwahr writes about the United States colonies, territories, and 800 bases outside of the U.S. mainland including how they were acquired, governed, and exploited by our government. The first part of the book, The Colonial Empire, discusses the expansion of the continental states and the second part, The Pointillist Empire discusses the acquisition of the territories and bases after World War 2. The territories at this time were Guam, Swan Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guantanamo Bay, The Philippines, Bikini Atoll, Saipan, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii.
Our group found this book to be quite interesting because it is about our country’s history that we never learned. We talked about how the territories were acquired based on usable resources with little consideration for the people living there. They never had representation with the U.S. government. Puerto Ricans were used as guinea pigs in medical testing. Racism was used in making decisions. The U.S. had an opportunity to acquire Mexico but didn’t want it because of “too many dark people”. The Bikini Atoll was used for testing the atomic bomb so that the people who lived there had to leave their homes and move elsewhere. When we acquired Guam as a base, the entire culture was disrupted and their focus became the base for their livelihood. Alaskan natives from the Aleutian Islands were evacuated from their homes following Japanese bombing and were forced into internment camps where 10% of the population perished.
This book was well-written, named names of leaders responsible, was readable and has much information.
